The Cleveland Teachers Union and the School District have reached a tentative agreement on a new 3- year contract. The deal would replace the district’s current promotion system – one that rewards teachers for years of experience – with one that would reward performance. The school board is set to vote on the agreement today and the union will vote later this month. Ida Lieszkovszky of member station WCPN in Cleveland reports.
Under the new contract, teachers would have to gather so-called Achievement credits to move up the pay scale. 15 achievement credits means a bump in pay.
Much of those credits would be based on teacher evaluations, which (in keeping with state law) will be based partly on student test data and partly on other factors like principal evaluations.
The rest would be based on skill development and professional growth, but the details of the system still need to be ironed out.
Teachers would also add 40 minutes to their work day to spend on lesson planning on meeting with families. They would also pay more into their healthcare. But, in exchange, the district would give the union a 4 percent increase in base pay in the contract’s first year, and a one percent increase in the third year.
The details of the contract align closely with the Cleveland Plan legislation passed last year. That plan was also a big selling point for voters when they approved new funds for the district last November.